Who We Are

Mission & Method

LASANAN is a hybrid agency operating under a unique model which allows us to broker highly valuable relationships with dynamic organizations. We support brand and organizational leaders in their efforts to understand marketing strategies, align on resource allocation, increase their market opportunity, and maximize return on their investments. Our vision is a scalable business which creates maximum benefit for our employees, partners, and community.

It all starts with an I.D.E.A. We collaboratively Identify the goals of an organization, the characteristics which make them unique, and the opportunities for growth. Through Discovery, we can leverage data, experience, and historical precedence to structure a hypothesis. Then Experiments are conducted so that opportunities can be validated. Finally, winning strategies are Accelerated and additional resources are allocated where return warrants investment.

the story behind the name

There are records of the Sumerian language being used to communicate as early as 3100 BC in Mesopotamia. The area was often referred to as the cradle of civilization as it was the birthplace of great innovation (written language, the wheel, modern agriculture, etc.) and spurred on several great empires. The cultural collective of the area worked to establish infrastructure and nurture rapid advancement, and the word that they used to describe their kingdom was “la sanan” – translated in English to, unrivaled.

Growth Focused

The common thread across all of our partnerships is that growth is a primary goal. We engineer solutions specific to improving returns, increasing capacity, and expanding capabilities.

Transparent

We don’t believe in hiding a secret sauce. We share new discoveries and innovations with our partners and work to transfer current knowledge through reporting and training.

Mutually Vested

Our unique business model creates an environment where we’re driven by our partner’s success, not billable hours. It allows us to exclusively work with dynamic organizations that we believe in.

Architect Approach

We believe that a strong foundation of knowledge and infrastructure of data can coexist with beautiful aesthetics. Our solutions are built with sustainable logic and expansion in mind.

our manifesto

The Catalyst for Our Innovation:

As marketers with startup, agency, and corporate experience, we are able to identify shortcomings in traditionally accepted practices within our industry and have been inspired to develop a model for marketing partnerships which is mutually beneficial.

Traditional Agency Shortcomings:

Agencies which exclusively rely on increased rates and additional billable hours as their means to growing top-line revenue. At some point with this revenue model, it’s in the agency’s best interest to reduce the resources committed to a client in order to increase their own profitability.

Focus on compartmentalized success instead of overarching success. When a service provider manages a single channel or initiative independently of comprehensive performance metrics, it’s easy to show improvements that may move a needle, but not ultimately add enough value.

Lack of business intelligence infrastructure and process to optimize strategy. Gut feelings and assumptions are good enough to model pilot programming, but ongoing refinement of marketing campaigns should be based in data. Resources that are confident in their ability to add value should be adamant about providing hard data and helping their clients understand it.

Inability to transfer ownership or increase internal capabilities. Unless a service provider has developed internal tools/technology which amplifies their abilities, their tangible value comes down to methodology, process, and results. Often agencies work behind closed doors so that they avoid being held accountable or make it more difficult to exit a relationship.

A New Business Model

To assure that we don’t make empty promises against a novel idea of building a different type of agency, we are developing a business model that is fruitful for its employees and results in mutually-vested collaboration with partners, not clients. We accomplish this by identifying what personal and professional success means to our team, and then reverse-engineer an operational model that maintains the integrity of those constructs.

Constructs for Success

Revenue needed to be generated outside of billable hours so that we were never conflicted about the value we add to partners versus the profitability of our time. These lines of revenue could be from products/brands that we (co-)own or from liquidity events that result from our services. Generating passive revenue also allows our team to be more flexible with their overall time commitments and have more control over what projects they work on.

We conduct planning, revisit strategy, and analyze data on an ongoing basis so that there’s alignment on goals, strategies, and tactics. The process forces collaboration across teams and partnerships in a way that nurtures consistent learning and evolution of skills/capabilities.

Partnerships only happen when it makes sense. With a methodology and process as deep as ours, it’s inefficient for us to over-book or alienate partners. When we can add actual value to a partner, they have increasing amounts of bandwidth/capital to invest in our efforts.

Our Promise

LASANAN is committed to developing a culture where our team and partners are able to grow on their own terms. We strive for an enlightened professional environment that can be fulfilling to the human experience while effectively improving business performance.

our ecosystem

There are a lot of moving parts to our world; these include interactions with fellows and interns, creative agencies, startup incubators, advertising firms, nonprofits, business collaboratives, and brands. Visit our Partnerships Page to dive deeper into how we work with different types of organizations.